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Rabbi Stevens: My Role As Rabbi Emeritus

Some have more than two thousand members, and may have three or more rabbis, as well as a full-time cantor, educator, and administrator, bookkeeper, and custodian. Some congregations are extremely small, with only a handful of families, and may have neither a rabbi nor a building.

Many smaller congregations may have a part-time rabbi, or a student rabbi who visits one or two weekends a month in addition to the High Holy Days. Most Reform congregations today have between one hundred fifty and three hundred families, or membership units.

Similarly, the role of the Rabbi Emeritus varies from congregation to congregation as well.

In smaller congregations, the Rabbi Emeritus may play a very small role in the life of the congregation; in very large congregations, the position of Rabbi Emeritus may be full-time, with the emeritus/emerita having his or her own office, secretarial staff, discretionary fund, and so on.

I know of congregations in which the incumbent rabbi and the Rabbi Emeritus each has an office larger than the size of our Denmark Family Room.

Many people have asked what my plans are for the next chapter of life, the chapter called “Life after Retirement.”

Judy and I will continue to live in the area, and look forward to more family time, more travel, and, among other pursuits, the opportunity to attend Shabbat services at a number of congregations throughout the Chicago area.

For me, the most important value in my role as Rabbi Emeritus is never to detract from, or undermine, the role of the “new” rabbi.

Some retired rabbis insist on sitting on the bimah for every service, and preaching once a month throughout the year and once on each High Holy Day. For me, sitting with Judy at Shabbat and holiday services, as part of the congregation, would be a very great honor.

My role as Rabbi Emeritus will include serving as a resource person, as appropriate, to the new rabbi, and, along with the other rabbis in the community, filling in for the rabbi, say, if he or she is on vacation.

My filling in for the new rabbi may occasionally include conducting a Shabbat service, or teaching, depending on the wishes of the congregation.

Our new chapter, as rabbi and as congregation, is still several months away. In the meantime, I look forward to serving as your rabbi, and, beginning this summer, as fellow-congregant and friend.